Documentary, Movies

Bowling for Columbine

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My expectations were only moderately high after having been disappointed by Moore’s under-researched Fahrenheit 9/11. Already during the first couple of minutes, you get the sense that Bowling for Columbine is a superbly crafted film. The symbol of guns is so deeply embedded in the American psyche and the facts about gun violence in America image [Read More]
Comedy, Movies

Napoleon Dynamite

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The typical high school movie has a plot line that goes like this: Students collectively arrive at standards for deciding a status order for the group. Good looks, athleticism, and social skills typically form the standards by which each student is ranked. The high-status people form an in-group with a very strict social boundary, keeping image [Read More]
Astute Observations, Diary

Why It Often Rains in the Movies

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A few days ago, I read this wonderful short piece by Lawrence Raab in a book entitled “The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, Elevators, and Waiting Rooms” (p. 260). Because so much consequential thinking happens in the rain. A steady mist to recall departures, a bitter downpour for betrayal. As if the first thing a man wants to [Read More]
Comedy, Movies

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

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If you are flying to the West Coast this month with United Airlines, you are presented with the Briget Jones sequel. Just like the first film, it is a light romantic comedy. Competent writers were hired to put together a script that delivers the same kind of effects as the first movie. It is not image [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Man on Fire

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Men on Fire is the most fantastic thriller in years. It pulls off what most films of this genre lack: Emotional depth in the midst of an action-driven plot.  Denzel Washington plays John Creasy, a retired CIA operative/contract killer whose conscience has got the better of him and led him to the whiskey bottle. Visiting image [Read More]
Books, Non-Fiction

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

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Love at first sight may be a romantic illusion. Wild excitement at first sight is certainly real. That’s what I experienced reading the first couple of pages of Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem. I quickly realized that this collection is a literary event not to be missed. When I was in college, I bought myself image [Read More]
Comedy, Movies

Shall We Dance?

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Stuck in the airplane, I watched Richard Gere dance again.  Dirty Dancing or last year’s sequel Dirty Dancing Havanna Nights are filled with teenage lust and broken hearts. This film is the middle aged version of the earlier dance films. Everything is cleaned up. A young women makes a bored estate lawyer take up ball image [Read More]